Mangled pronunciations

Very often, one language will borrow a word from another until it becomes part of the everyday language. After many (mis)pronunciations in the new language, it becomes unrecognisable from the original.

A good example would be: croissant (a flaky, buttery French pastry that is popular around the world). In Japanese, a croissant is known as クロワッサン (pronounced "kurowassan"). The only way we can tell it is a borrowed word is in the writing. The use of Katakana tells me that this is not a native Japanese word. (Katakana is used when writing foreign words in Japanese text.)

When I was studying second year Japanese, I had a Frenchman in my class. When the teacher was talking about "kurowassan" in the lesson, none of us understood what she was talking about. After several more descriptions, a few of us went, "Oh! Croissant!" The teacher replied, "Hai, kurowassan desu." ("Yes, it is croissant.") Our French classmate almost fell off the chair! He felt as though the Japanese had completely violated and destroyed his language! He left the class that day rather disgusted at this new discovery.

My Filipino friend +Lloyd Estrada studied Spanish in Costa Rica. One day, he wore a t-shirt with the word "tunais" printed on it, to class. His Spanish teacher was not too happy when she saw this. "This is because, over the years, the English expression "too nice" evolved into "tuanis" in their country!" Today, "tunais" in Costa Rica may mean excellent, great, or nice. Well, borrow a word here and there and very soon, we may all be speaking only one language around the world!

Here's to speaking "Globish" or bad English!

"I prefer to talk to God in my own language"

Approximately every one in four residents of Singapore is a non-citizen. Non-citizens come from many parts of the world. They come here to work, many doing jobs that no citizen wants to do. Then there are those who come to offer their expertise, like the Spanish-speaking Christians featured in this article.

Most foreigners living and working in Singapore can speak English fairly well. English may not be their first language, but they can function comfortably in English on a daily basis. However, when it comes to matters of faith, they would much rather attend a place of worship that speaks their "heart language".

Churches in Singapore have responded positively by opening new services in various languages as the need arises. Trinity Christian Centre, the church featured in this article, is one of the few that have a Spanish service. The African service at Cornerstone Community Church is in English, but the style of service is typically African, to suit all the Africans from different parts of the continent.

The beauty of all this diversity is that each one is worshipping God in his own heart language and style, which gives him a brief moment of being "at home" away from home. It is a place where they can be themselves and not have to explain to anyone why they speak or behave in a certain way. Living overseas is not easy. Little touches like this help relieve homesickness.

Have you been able to overcome culture shock? Do you appreciate being with your fellow countrymen every now and then? Crossing cultures is not easy, but little touches like this make a world of difference.

Have fun crossing the cultural divide!

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Go ahead and laugh. I'll get fluent soon!

Taken hostage by the English language
My Filipino friend living in Costa Rica has encountered many funny instances of getting words with similar sounds mixed up. While he has written more about his own journey of learning Spanish and having to use this newly learned language to preach the Gospel and speak publicly about his work, this piece is about a Spanish-speaker learning English. I had such a good laugh reading his post.

I've been there and done that, though not in Spanish. I've had so many Cambodian friends laugh at me because I've mispronounced a word. These young people, many of them my students, would laugh out loud in my face. Thankfully, I had many other slightly older young people who patiently corrected me till I got fluent. Learning a language takes a lot of hard work and humility, maybe even humiliation, depending on how you look at it. However, the more effort and practice you put in, the better you get at it. The rewards of being able to communicate freely in another language are immeasurable.

Summer in the northern hemisphere is just around the corner. Many will start planning summer holidays soon. Some may even visit another country or visit a place that has a completely different culture from your own e.g. visiting Chinatown in San Francisco, or Little Italy in New York City. Why not immerse yourself in the experience by learning some words or phrases of that people group before you go? You'll make new friends a lot faster and endear yourself to a new culture.

Plan your summer holiday well! Learn a language to get the most out of your holiday experience!

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New Year, New Language

What's the best way for my daughter to learn Chinese?
What's the best method to learn English?
There must be some method or technique to learning languages!

I have been asked this question too many times. Yes, I market language learning tools! Yes, there are lots of different books and packages out there for you to choose from. What's the best?

My advice is to get as many different books or packages that you can afford to buy and use them altogether. Get learning any way you can, that's what my English Literature teacher told us 17-year-old students a long time ago. Something will stick one way or another.

So, here's my recommendations of top selling software packages:
Fluenz - top of the line interactive software. Not cheap, but excellent for the English-speaking learner of a foreign language. Instructors have all learned the language themselves and are therefore qualified to teach it. Provides a good basic foundation in the language. Available languages: Mandarin, Spanish (Latin America), Spanish (Spain), German, French and Italian.

Pimsleur - rated as one of the top 10 language learning methods. Reasonably priced. Uses both book and audio. Has interactive software as well. Instructors are native speakers of the language. Pace is fast, but challenges the learner to "get moving". Available in 50 languages.

There are so many good packages out there. Come visit Fun Language Tools today! Pick up a new language for the new year!

Happy learning!

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